Sherman Avenue is a collector road in the lower portion of

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It begins at the

Niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is an approximately discontinuous, arc-shaped but generally northward-facing escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States. The escarpment begins south of Lake Ontario and circumscribes the top of the Great Lake ...

('The Mountain') just south of Cumberland Avenue and is a one-way street bisecting the industrialized northern neighbourhoods of the city. It ends at Ship Street — the site of Steel Company of Canada (

Stelco Stelco Holdings Inc. (known as U.S. Steel Canada from 2007 to 2016) is a Canadian steel company based in Hamilton, Ontario. Stelco was founded in 1910 by the amalgamation of several smaller firms. It continued on for almost 100 years until it ...

). Upper Sherman Avenue is located on the top of escarpment, running roughly from North to South, starting from Concession Street to Rymal Road. It does not directly connect with Sherman Avenue below. The two Shermans are a former sideroad between lots 8 and 9 of the former Barton Township. The Sherman Cut is a rock cut through the brow of the escarpment. Beginning at Crockett Street, it runs downhill and north, parallel to Upper Sherman. It passes under Concession Street and Mountain Park Avenue, coming to an end at a tee-intersection with the Sherman Access
PhotosVideo
In 2019, the Cut handled 21,392 car trips per day. The Sherman Access runs diagonally down the slope of the escarpment. From the base of the Sherman Cut, it has two legs. The west leg (originally known as Mountain Boulevard) proceeds downhill, and makes a sharp hairpin turn in the area of the Jolley Cut and the Claremont Access. It ends in a tee intersection with Charlton Avenue East. The east leg proceeds downhill until it intercepts the Kenilworth Access. The Sherman Access has

reversible lane A reversible lane, also known as variable lane, dynamic lane, and tidal flow, is a managed lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically, it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, b ...

s. It is the only mountain access with time restrictions. The northbound (downhill) is open to traffic for the morning rush; while the southbound (uphill) is open to traffic during the afternoon rush. The rest of the time, it operates as a regular two-lane road. The Sherman Access was constructed in 1929, passing under the Wentworth Incline Railway. From 1937 to 1956, Highway 55 travelled over portions of Gage Road, Crockett Street, Sherman Cut, and the west leg of the Sherman Access.Map
Due to the continuing erosion of the escarpment, the Access has been closed several times due to rock falls: in 2012 2016 and 2018. Each rockfall costs (in 2016) between $25,000 to $500,000 for the city to clean up. Hamilton has 16 escarpment crossings, each of which is inspected daily. The Access was closed for major, half-year repairs in 2017 and for six weeks in 2021.

History

Sherman Avenue, originally called Shearman Avenue which was named after the first land assessor of the district, nothing more is known of Shearman who remains a man of mystery in Hamilton's history books. Later the name was changed from Shearman to Sherman Avenue in honour of brothers Clifton Sherman (1872–1955) and Frank Sherman (1887–1967), who both founded Dominion Foundries and Steel (later called

Dofasco ArcelorMittal Dofasco, a subsidiary of ArcelorMittal, is a steel company based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Dofasco is a standalone subsidiary of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest integrated steel producer. History Clifton and Frank A. Sherman ...

) in 1912, creating a giant that would bring prosperity and identity to the city. The

steel industry Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high elastic modulus, yield strength, fracture strength and low raw material cost, steel is one of the ...

continued to grow in the late 19th century through to the early 20th century and finally consolidate through this period, some combining to form the Steel Company of Canada (

) in 1910. Dominion Steel Casting Company (

) was established two years later in 1912. Later named Dominion Foundries and Steel, the company merged with its subsidiary, Hamilton Steel Wheel Company in 1917. The name was officially changed to Dofasco Inc. in 1980. On July 15, 1946, after a meeting at the Playhouse Theatre, on Sherman Avenue North, Local 1005 members of the

United Steelworkers of America The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headqua ...

at Stelco marched to the plant gates to start the famous strike of 1946. The fight was over Union recognition, a 40-hour work week and wages. With the help of Hamilton's community this struggle changed Canadian Labour history. It forced employers to accept

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

and helped start a mass

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

movement in Canada.Stelco 1946 founding strike of Local 1005 (CBC Newsworld)
/ref> St. Peter's Hospital is a 250-bed

chronic care Chronic care refers to medical care which addresses pre-existing or long-term illness, as opposed to acute care which is concerned with short term or severe illness of brief duration. Chronic medical conditions include asthma, diabetes, emphysema, ...

hospital located on Maplewood Avenue 3 blocks east of Sherman Avenue South in downtown

specializing in the care of older adults. The hospital is a part of the St. Peter's Family of Services, which also includes

home care Homecare (home care, in-home care, care at home), also known as domiciliary care, personal care, community care, or social care, is health care or supportive care provided in the individual home where the patient or client is living, generally focu ...

, long-term care, and research branches. It was founded by the

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

in 1890.

Landmarks

Note: Listing of Landmarks from North to South. *Pier 16 *Hamilton Port Authority *

(Steel Company of Canada), Piers 16, 17, 18 (Sherman Avenue to Ottawa Street) *Fine Line Signs Company *Barton Air Fabrications Inc. *Szabo Carbidde Tooling, Precision tools and die manufacturing (formerly Italian Evangelical Church, 1910–1929) * Newalta, (Canada's leading industrial waste management and environmental services company) *Mermaid Limo Service *

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

railway tracks *Hamilton Hydro Electric System building *Hamilton Specialty Bar Corporation (formerly Slater Steel) * 270 Sherman (former Imperial Cotton Company cotton mill) *The Wallace Barnes Company Limited building *Metal Industrial Corp. *Canadian National railway tracks *Bethal Apostolic Church *Playhouse Cinema *St. Ann's Rectory * St. Peter's Hospital, (off Sherman Avenue, 3 blocks east on Maplewood Avenue) *Cumberland Christian Assembly Church *Canadian National railway tracks *Escarpment Rail Trail (abandoned railway path) *

Bruce Trail The Bruce Trail is a hiking trail in southern Ontario, Canada, from the Niagara River to the tip of Tobermory, Ontario. The main trail is more than long and there are over of associated side trails. The trail mostly follows the edge of the Nia ...

* Mountain Face Park *

(mountain) *Mountain Face Park *Escarpment Rail Trail

Communities

Note: Listing of neighbourhoods from North to South *North End (Hamilton, Ontario), Northend - Everything north of the

Railway tracks *Gibson (Hamilton, Ontario), Gibson/ Stipeley (Hamilton, Ontario), Stipeley, Sherman Avenue is the division between these two neighbourhoods. *St. Clair (Hamilton, Ontario), St. Clair/ Blakeley (Hamilton, Ontario), Blakeley, Sherman Avenue is the division between these two neighbourhoods.

Gallery

Image:Sherman Avenue South.JPG, Sherman Avenue looking South Image:ShermanAveHamiltonI.JPG, Sherman Avenue South image:ShermanAveHamiltonG.JPG, Hamilton Port Authority Sign/ Clock image:ShermanAveHamiltonD.JPG, Playhouse Theatre sign, Sherman Ave. North

Notes

References

*MapArt Golden Horseshoe Atlas - Page 647 - Grids E15, F15, G15, H15

External links

North End Neighbours270 Sherman creative complexBruce Trail AssociationHikes on the Bruce TrailGoogle Maps: Sherman Avenue (Hybrid)

{{Hamilton Roads in Hamilton, Ontario Roads with a reversible lane